Hands On San Diego: Horton Elementary Math Games

There is no denying the "Back to School" phenomenon. Can't you just feel all of those possibilities and opportunities that present themselves along with a new school year? Perhaps you aren't even a student anymore, but that fresh new start likely calls out to you just the same.

Thank goodness for Volunteer San Diego's Hands On San Diego service event. Your potential as an active and positive member of our community is made so much easier with the slew of excellent volunteer projects at your fingertips. Check out the project list and find gems like the Horton Elementary School Math Games project, where volunteers will assist students and parents engage in fun educational activities.

To get involved, sign up on Volunteer San Diego's website at http://www.volunteersandiego.org/, or by phone at 858-636-4131.



Anna Schulz is a member of the Flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

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Hands On San Diego: Camp HOPE Project

Volunteer San Diego's annual service event, Hands On San Diego, is going on all week. Hundreds of volunteers have already demonstrated their commitment to our community by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.


There are hundreds of volunteer opportunities still available, including the Camp HOPE playground building project taking place later this week. This new playground at Camp HOPE is the culmination of planning from California's First Lady, Maria Shriver, and the state agency that she represents, CaliforniaVolunteers, the playground wizards of KaBOOM!, and Volunteer San Diego, and a corporate sponsorship from Vons. All of these partners are working together to build a much needed playground for the young participants of Camp HOPE. Camp HOPE provides therapeutic and recreation services to young people who've survived family violence.

To get involved, sign up on Volunteer San Diego's website at http://www.volunteersandiego.org/, or by phone at 858-636-4131.

Anna Schulz is a member of the Flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

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Wherever I'm Needed Most

This weekend was the kick off to Hands On San Diego and a great reminder of why I love working at Volunteer San Diego. At one of our first Hands On projects, a renovation of Adams Avenue Recreation Center, I was greeted by an enthusiastic bunch of volunteers. Some showed up because it was in their neighborhood and they wanted to help it look great; others participated because their law firm, McKenna, Long and Aldridge, had adopted the project as part of their commitment to community; still others enjoyed spending quality time together as family, joking and laughing as they gave benches a face lift with new paint. I was impressed by how many people said “just assign me to wherever I’m needed most.”

The weekend also showed me how diverse the experience of service can be. One of our volunteers, Sharky, shared an amusing story of volunteering with her daughter at Crafts for a Cause two years ago. While decorating cards for veterans, she jokingly donned a star sticker on her nose. Her daughter, unable to have piercings at work, suggested that mom get her nose pierced. Sporting a nose ring and energy drink on Saturday morning, Sharky, a very young 62 years old, relayed this experience and other examples of how she gives back to community through Volunteer San Diego and other organizations that need her.

On Sunday evening, a friend and colleague approached me to tell me how much volunteering impacted her roommate. Enduring a dark time in his life, he began to volunteer through Volunteer San Diego and has become active with a number of causes. As he brightened others’ lives in service, he found his own life brightened too.

I’m constantly humbled by the power of volunteering and what is possible – personally, professionally, and as community – when we join our talents with others. See you at Hands On San Diego!

Sue Carter, Executive Director
Volunteer San Diego

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Get to Know Our New Staff and AmeriCorps Members

Volunteer San Diego Welcomes Our New Staff and AmeriCorps Members

Seth Connolly, Fire Recovery Coordinator
I joined VSD because, as an urban planner, I am interested in helping people to build sustainable and resilient communities. Wildfires are certain to remain a way of life in the San Diego region, and volunteerism can be an important means with which to help residents deal with their impacts -- while also creating stronger community bonds.
My previous position was with the County of San Diego, reviewing plans for the Department of Planning and Land Use. In this position, I was able to see many of the challenges facing survivors of the 2007 wildfires firsthand, and hope that this will serve me well in helping them to understand the processes of recovery and prevention. Prior to coming to San Diego last year, I have also lived in Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver, BC and Orange County.
I currently live in Ocean beach with my wife and young son, where I serve on the local planning board and occasionally get to play in the sand.

Adrianne Burleigh, Citizen Action AmeriCorps - Volunteer Outreach Coordinator
I joined VSD to meet people and learn about non-profits.
Before joining Volunteer San Diego, I was working at a bank.
Something about me is I like cats.

Brandi Love, Citizen Action AmeriCorps - Youth Leadership Coordinator
I joined Volunteer San Diego because when I came for my interview I had a good feeling about the people and the work they were doing for the community. I was thrilled when I got the position!
Before VSD, I recently graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a degree in Child and Family Studies and a minor in psychology.
I am really enjoying the beaches here in San Diego!!

Leia Courchaine, AmeriCorps Vista - Project Coordinator
In March 2008, I moved back to San Diego after living out of the state for 5 ½ years. I was attending the University of Texas at San Antonio where I was studying Finance. At UTSA, I was an active brother of the Co-ed Professional Business Fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi and was also taking Polynesian dancing and performing at many events in San Antonio. My return to home (San Diego) was caused by a family emergency that had me move back as soon as I could. Aside from that, I still continued to be active in the community. Since March and as of now I serve as an Officer as Membership Chair for the National Association of Asian American Professionals-San Diego (Formerly San Diego Asian Professionals) and still take Polynesian dancing here in San Diego. I have a 5 year old daughter who just started kindergarten at Olympic View Elementary in Chula Vista.

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Volunteering vs. Loneliness

Volunteers have more friends. The Corporation for National and Community Service's Volunteering in America survey can back me up on this bold hypothesis of mine. According to this research, "volunteers trade of more than an hour a day of TV watching in order to engage in service." In addition, people who volunteer are three times more likely to participate in community organizational activities (such as church, social groups, team sports) than non-volunteers. What's more, 78% of volunteers eat their meals with others (just 70% of non-volunteers can claim this to be true). Don't let yourself get to a lonely place with just a TV set for company. Sign up and become a volunteer now.

Anna Schulz is a member of the flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

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Volunteering Is Good For My Waistline and Budget

I have just returned from the lunch service at St. Vincent de Paul as a part of VSD's "Feed the Homeless" Flex project. My friend, Judy Larkins, has been the volunteer leader for this project for the last five years. I was excited to see Judy and get a little volunteer time in as well. Judy & I did have a quick minute to catch up, but then we got very, very busy serving lunch to hundreds of people. People interested in participating in fast-paced volunteering should definitely check out a future "Feed the Homeless" project, as part of Flex or the upcoming Hands On San Diego event. The kitchen staff and veteran volunteers do an excellent job organizing incredible amounts of food. Before I knew it, the last tray had gone through the line and two hours of volunteering had flown by me. Judy warned me that I'd be tired today and she was right.

I had initially planned to buy myself a little lunch after volunteering. I realized after serving several hundred homeless people that spending money on a lunch out was somewhat of a wasteful thing to do. Instead of spending money on fatty food in a restaurant, I made a simple meal for myself with the food I already had at home. I'll put a little extra money in the philanthropy budget this month and enjoy the pride in knowing that my volunteer experience has left me in a better physical, emotional, and financial state.

Anna Schulz is a member of the flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

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New National Volunteering Website

For those of you that are hip to the world of volunteering, you may have already heard about the latest report from The Corporation for National and Community Service. But for the rest of us, and especially those of us who haven't heard of The Corporation, here is a short plug.

The Corporation plays a vital role in supporting the American culture of citizenship, service and responsibility. Through their programs and the thousands of dollars in grants they give out every year they encourage service at the National and local level (for more on what they do click here).

Every year The Corporation releases a report chronicling volunteering trends throughout the Nation. This report is incredibly thorough, with info about every state and hundreds of medium to large Cities across the country. A few choice stats:

• This year there were 60.8 million volunteers nationwide, which is down from last year (61.2 mil 2006) This is still a high number, but it is down from the peak in 2005 (65.4 mil).
• San Diego Ranks 25th in the Nation for volunteerism rates, based on how many people volunteer per capita.

For more cool stats and figures on Volunteering in San Diego, click here.

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VSD on the Turko Files

KUSI's Turko Files investigate local problems. This week's episode is about a drainage ditch in Spring Valley that had turned into a massive fire hazard. With help from Volunteer San Diego, the community came together to clear the ditch of the dead grass and weeds that could have easily sparked into a wildfire.

Watch the investigative report here.

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Where the Girls Are

The "Giving Gardeners at Ronald McDonald House" project takes place each month offering light gardening as well as a chance to chitchat with other volunteers. When I participated on July 26th, our group consisted of seven fabulous females who spruced up the entry and courtyard garden areas. While we pruned, weeded, planted, mulched, and watered, some of families of the Ronald McDonald House complimented us on our efforts and thanked us for volunteering. Just an hour and a half of volunteering, first thing on Saturday...what a great way to kick-off my weekend!

Volunteers Lara Groutt, Diane Green, and Lauren Payne on the job at the Ronald McDonald House.

Anna Schulz is a member of the flex program and a volunteer blogger for Volunteer San Diego. She also writes for her family blog, The Full Catastrophe.

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Thank You VSD Board Members

Today is the last day of several of our Board Members' terms, and we would like to send out a hearty round of thank-yous for all of the hard work that they have contributed over the years. Beth Rolls Mathewson, Debra Patterson, Eric Welch and outgoing Board President Bob Alden are all leaving because they have maxed out their term limits. Several of them have been with us before VSD was VSD, and their participation has helped to make us the fabulous organization that we are today. We will truly miss their presence on the Board and we hope they will continue their involvement in other ways.

We leave you with an inspiring image of our outgoing president Bob Alden because his level of committment to Volunteer San Diego has been above and beyond the normal call of duty for a Board President. Between attending every event, djing and singing, and even throwing his own VSD benefit parties, Bob leaves enormous shoes to fill.

Thank you Beth, Debra, Eric and Bob!

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Service-Learning: One Solution to the Dropout Crisis

The National Dropout Prevention Center puts out a monthly webcast exploring ways to keep youth in school. This month's episode introduces Service-Learning as a strategy to keep students more engaged in the curriculum and therefore less likely to dropout. The NDPC "has long advocated service-learning as a teaching methodology with considerable potential to prevent dropouts." This webcast gives an overview of service-learning and how to "effectively incorporate specific strategies to promote youth engagement in the service-learning process in order to foster their resilience."

Listen to the webcast here, and for more of their resources relating to dropout prevention, click here.

Volunteer San Diego is proud to support Service-Learning in San Diego County. Check out the Educators section of our website or http://www.sdservicelearning.org/ for more information on incorporating Service-Learning into your classroom.

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Bob Alden in the Community Spotlight

Our Board President Bob Alden has the honor of being the 2nd VSD member to be interviewed for Sign on San Diego's Community Spotlight. Scroll down to the June 6th entry to hear Bob's take on "the state of volunteerism in our region and how volunteering has evolved in recent years."

Sue Carter, our Executive Director, was previously interviewed on May 9th. Look for more VSD related Hijinks on the Community Spotlight soon!

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New Flex Online Orientation

For those of you interested in becoming a Flex Member but haven't had a chance to make it out to one of our orientations, now you can attend online! Flex Members can participate in projects once a week, once a month, or once in a while. The one-time nature of the Flex program makes it the perfect way to test out many different opportunities and find the one that best matches your interests.

Important: make sure you are logged in to the VSD site before beginning the orientation. The system will not activate your Flex Member status if you are not logged in.

Click here to become a Flex Member today!

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Engaging Students in Service Training this Tuesday

Coming up on Tuesday, June 24th is another installment of our popular Service-Learning trainings, Engaging Students in Service: The Comprehensive Service-Learning Experience. Students are a great source of volunteer power because many of them need to complete service hours as a requirement for their school, and this training covers ways volunteer managers can incorporate youth volunteers into their programs.

This hands-on training is an “All-in-One.” You will receive our introduction to service-learning, as well as two additional “In Focus” workshops exploring service-learning in the context of on-site projects and character education. There is a $50 fee for all attendees to this training.

For more information on what is covered at this training and to sign up, click here.

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Help I've Got a difficult Volunteer!

Fear not, help is on the way! Join us Wednesday the 18th, 11:45-1:15 for this month's DOVIA brown bag. Bring your best ideas, experiences, strategies, energy, enthusiasm, business cards and lunch!

Learn how to deal with difficult volunteers, resolve conflicts successfully, give directions effectively, and how to let a volunteer go. DOVIA Brown bags are a great opportunities to meet volunteer professionals in San Diego County and to work together and find solutions to common problems.

If you are interested, please sign up on our website. Free to members; $5 for non-members.

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Intergenerational School brings Older Volunteers into Schools

NPR ran a great story this morning about a school in Cleveland that brings young and old together through volunteerism. The Intergenerational School buses in folks in their 80s and 90s to read to children and talk about their life experiences. Some of the volunteers have Alzheimer's or dementia, but this hasn't proved to be an impediment to their work. In fact Dr. Peter Whitehouse, the founder of the school, believes that volunteering has numerous health benefits to Alzheimer's patients. Whitehouse has been working with Daniel George to study the effects of volunteerism:

Whitehouse and George say they see a change in volunteers such as 91-year-old Hardesty. She doesn't use the words Alzheimer's or dementia. Instead, she talks about her "problem." She says that when it developed late last year, it hit her hard.
"I thought I might as well quit," Hardesty says. "I was really down in the dumps about the whole thing. There was a time that I hated to go down to dinner because I just couldn't talk to people. It was awful." For a while she stopped going to the dining hall. Two things lifted her from that despair: a support group for people dealing with memory loss and her volunteer work at the Cleveland school.
"The kids, you know, we always find a lot of things to laugh about," says Hardesty. "Just having kids around has always been very good for me, so it was good thing."

If you have a few moments the story is worth a listen!

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VSD on Flickr

Want to be inspired? Check out VSD's new Flickr Page! Pictures of our youth service events, corporate volunteering programs and much more are starting to make their way to the internet. You can see some of the impact that volunteers have had on San Diego County in these photos, and be inspired to take on projects of your own!

If you have a flickr account, join our group! You can post pictures you've taken at volunteer projects and events on the VSD group page. Show everyone the difference you have made in your community.

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Apply to be a SAVY Leader today!

The SAVY Leaders, a youth leadership council, don’t just participate in service projects, they plan, lead and reflect on those events, identify problems in the community, and work to develop effective and meaningful solutions.

Applications are being accepted until June 12th for the 2008-09 school year. If you are a high school student interested in making new friends and a difference in your community, the SAVY leaders are for you!

Download an application here.

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HOSD Art Contest

There are a few days left to submit your piece of original artwork to the annual Hands On San Diego Art Contest! If you are an artist or just wish you were, depict the fun and rewards of volunteering and your design could be worn by thousands of volunteers across the county! The art contest is open to people of all ages, with special categories for grades K-12. In addition to the Grand Prize, there are great prizes for the winner of each age category. Download the guidelines and submission form here, and be sure to get your entry in by this Friday!

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Looking for HOSD Site Captains

This September VSD is teaming up with VAVi to complete a series of recreation center makeovers throughout San Diego. There is much work to be done and your help is needed! Each rec. center needs a Site Captain. Site Captains are the backbone of these rec. center projects; we couldn't do this without you! Each Site Captain is assigned to one site. Your first task will be to further develop and plan for the projects that will take place at the site for Hands On San Diego. Visit the rec. center and meet with key staff to discuss the projects previously identified by VSD and VAVi.

Other responsibilities include coordinating projects, verifying supplies, managing volunteer teams and solving minor problems. Don't worry though, experienced VSD staff members will be there to guide you every step of the way; training will be provided. This is a great way to give back to your community and develop yourself as a leader. To sign up, contact: Claudia Barrett, 858-636-4124.

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